Reporters' Notebook: April 13, 2009

When he was growing up, Third Federal Savings and Loan CEO Marc Stefanski was told to go ahead and buy whatever he wanted  as long as he could afford it.
I didn't buy very much, he told a crowd April 3 at Case Western Reserve University, to laughter. The mindset has to change.
The speech, which packed the multipurpose classroom at the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations to overflow, was billed as a question-and-answer session about the current housing crisis and how it impacts urban families. But Mr. Stefanski touched on more than that.
He called on business schools to focus on morals instead of proceeds, commented on Third Federal's success in Florida despite what's now a miserable housing market there, implored an audience member who is a real estate agent to help sell off some of the bank's housing stock and talked about the bank's cornerless meeting tables  an attempt to emulate King Arthur's knights of the roundtable.
Mr. Stefanski said there still is plenty of lending going on at his bank and others, but that it's more difficult to put larger deals together. He called the increased savings rate one of the problems, saying that the economy needs people to spend their money now.
Mr. Stefanski also called TARP money a trap and said large banks that have taken it are in a pickle. He said the damage reaped on the economy is the result of living in a capitalistic society.
It's messy, no doubt about it, he said.  Arielle Kass

Getta getta getta Garmin by going going going to Key

KeyBank wants to help you find your way.
Through this recession. To the bank. With the help of a new Garmin nuvi GPS in exchange for opening a checking account, maybe they're one and the same.
We pride ourselves on giving sound financial advice on how to navigate the times, spokesman Dan Davis said. It's kind of a metaphor here.
The GPS  there are two available, depending on the minimum balance you keep in that account  is available to people opening accounts by April 24. The hoops  er, requirements for the technology  include making at least one debit card transaction and a combination of two direct deposits or automated payments of at least $100 by June 26.
Todd Hays, senior vice president retail executive for Northeast Ohio, said the bank has had success with other promotions in the past, such as those that offer iPods or digital cameras. Key tries to offer at least one such promotion a year, he said.
Switching banks takes time and energy, he said. We try to be creative.
In the past, Mr. Hays said, such promotions have been very successful in driving new clients to the bank.
This time, the GPS will help ensure they don't get lost on the way. Arielle Kass

When doing a 180 turns around a life

The Cleveland Clinic has launched a program called Lifestyle 180 that provides intensive wellness training to help people better manage their chronic illnesses.
The program is a six-week training course in which patients work with wellness experts such as dietitians, exercise physiologists, stress management teachers and yoga instructors for nearly 50 hours. Lifestyle 180 medical director Dr. Elizabeth Ricanati then creates specific therapies for each patient and advises the patients in one-on-one sessions.
Dr. Ricanati said the Clinic hopes to help patients with disorders such as hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and multiple sclerosis reverse and decrease the effects of those disorders to improve quality of life and reduce health care expenses.
Research shows that many chronic conditions are largely the result of lifestyle decisions, so if we can teach people how to make better choices, we can reduce the number of people living with these diseases instead of simply adding to the numbers afflicted, Dr. Ricanati said.
Each Lifestyle 180 group now has 12 to 16 participants who meet at the Lyndhurst campus twice a week for four hours. The program will be expanded to other diseases this spring.  Shannon Mortland